Virus
by adidas23
Summary: What would happen when everyone over the age of sixteen died? How would teenagers fend for themselves? Here it goes...
1. Chapter 1

Aaron

I opened my eyes and listened hard.

Nothing. No sound. I frowned a little. Why wasn't my mom snoring? Where was Dad's gentle 'cooing' as he slept? I couldn't even hear little Anna's voice. She was usually awake at this hour.

I looked over at my cousin, crumpled on the floor. I panicked and leaped up on the bed. I crouched down and reached out my hand, then curled it back. Instead I stuck out my foot and let it hover over him for a moment. Then I prodded him gently. Nothing. My heart caught in my throat. No, he couldn't be. I just hadn't kicked him hard enough. So this time, I kicked him… hard. Right in the back.

"Motherf--!" John shot up from the floor in fury. "What the heck, Aaron?!"

I was relieved, but suspicious. "Why weren't you snoring? You always snore."

John gave me a dirty look. "Because maybe I wasn't sleeping." He sighed, rubbing his back sorely. "I woke up and was trying to figure out why when you poked me. I thought you were sleeping 'till ya kicked me!"

I cocked my head to the side. Odd. "I woke up for some reason, too."

"Yeah. But it couldn't have been a raccoon or anything 'cause I haven't heard a single thing since I woke up."

John and I simultaneously looked at each other. I ran to the door and jerked it open.

"Mom?... Dad?... Anna?" I called down the hall. My voice was uncomfortably loud in the quiet house. I slowly opened the door wider and walked cautiously down the black hallway. I could hear John feeling his way behind me. I didn't have to. I'd walked through this hallway numerous times in fifteen years. I stopped and wrapped the doorknob in my clammy fingers. I turned my hand until I heard a sharp click. I pushed it open and snapped on the light.

I gasped and turned the light off again. Then I shut the door. John was peering curiously at the closed door behind me.

"Are they awake?" he asked.

"N-no." I told him, my voice cracking. I turned him around and guided him to the kitchen. I turned and slid both doors shut, locking them, then walked to the counter and picked up the phone.

"Who are you calling?" John asked. He was smart. He was catching on.

"Shh," I said as I dialed the short number. The phone rang a couple times then clicked as someone picked up. "Hello? 911?"

John paled as I talked on the phone, explaining what I had seen. I was glad I hadn't let him look inside the room.

I told the authorities the story again and again as they filtered through our house, looking for clues, I guess. It wasn't until they left me and John alone that I noticed the ambulance and police cars two houses away, too. I stood and looked closer. Everyone there was busy talking to each other and moving bodies into the ambulance.

"That's all of 'em." A man said, closing the door as he loaded a body in.

_All of them?_

"John," I said, nudging him awake as he slept beside me.

"Mmm."

"Isn't that Elle's house? Ella Warner?"

"Mmm." He opened one eye lazily to glance where I was pointing. "Yeah."

"John," I said again. "She's dead."

"Dead." He echoed. His face collapsed in pain. He opened his eyes, awake now. I saw the red and blue lights reflected in his eyes.

"What about the family in the next house over?" a man asked.

A second man sighed. "all taken care of now. The house is empty.

"Hmm." The first man paused. "Did it… was it the same thing as here?"

I didn't know if the second man nodded because they were behind us.

"I feel worst for the kids," the second man whispered.

"I know," the other agreed. This is the eighth case I've seen like this in the last few days."

"I've seen about seven myself." The second man sighed. "They all end up the same. Kids call us, parents are dead."

"Must be some kind of chemical or somethin'," the first man grunted and lumbered off.

"Fifteen families this week." I breathed in astonishment

John didn't say anything.

I was dreading tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

Andi

"Zach."

"Present, madam." Zach said with a flourish.

"Dylan." Ms. Eric dismissed his gesture with an eye roll.

"Here."

"MacKenzie."

"Here."

_Bzzzzt_. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I quickly silenced it and checked to see who texted me. I speedily tapped the keys to reply.

"Andi."

"Um…" I looked up.

Ms. Eric nodded to show she saw me.

"Jamie."

"Here."

"John."

Silence.

I peered over at John. He was hunched low over in his seat. He was slowly breaking off slivers from a pencil.

"John?" Ms. Eric tried again. She gazed at him from behind her horn-rimmed glasses. Her face clouded over as she looked at him. She finally looked down and checked the attendance sheet.

"Ella," she continued down the list.

More silence.

"Is Ella not here?" Ms. Eric asked. "Does anyone know where she is?" everyone muttered 'no's' halfheartedly. Ms. Eric looked a little concerned as she peered at John again.

His pure blue eyes were dull; his thick lashes almost touching his cheeks below his brunet eyebrows as they knitted together. His usual handsome face was sickly pale. He stared intently down at his pencil.

"John?" Ms. Eric puzzled.

"No." he replied instantly.

I caught up to John as he headed out the door to fourth period.

"Hey," I said, elbowing him lightly. He just stared ahead and kept walking.

"What is it? What's bothering you? Don't tell me it's nothing because I saw your face when Ms. Eric asked where Ella was." I waited, but John just ignored me. "Where is she?" I could tell something was definitely wrong now.

"Don't worry about it," he said, opening his locker.

"Well I'm worrying now! If you just told me—" I was cut off by an unwanted interruption.

"Good news and bad news," Brandon said, swaggering up behind John. WE both had to look up into his statuesque face sitting atop of his Abercrombie-and-Fitch-model-worthy body. If it weren't for his slight case of acne, the kid would probably be gracing magazine covers.

"Which one do you want to hear first?" Brandon asked John, looking down at him with his _beautiful_ blue-green eyes. I sighed as I began to drift off in a daydream.

"Bad." John slammed his locker anxiously.

"Andi's here today," Brandon said sadly. I scowled at him.

"Brandon!" John wasn't in the mood today.

"Ok, ok, good news is, Ella's not dead."

"What? How--?"

"How do I know this? Hmm, exhibit A," Brandon tugged Ella from behind his back. She glowered and moved to run away from his grasp, but he simply wrapped his long arm around her waist and rooted her there.

"Thank God," John leaned against the wall. This caught Ella's attention.

"John, I have something to tell you," she started.

"I love you!" Brandon said in a mock-Ella voice.

"Shut up!" Ella hissed, backhanding Brandon in his stomach. He wheezed a little and glared at her.

"Wait, you were _dead_?" I asked Ella in confusion.

"Apparently," she said, now trying to force Brandon to let go of her.

"What did you need to tell me?" John persisted.

"Oh, right," she focused on him.

"Hey, what's up?" someone said from behind me. Ella glanced at them and an angelic expression came across her already beautiful face. Her large dark eyes lit up underneath her long black hair. Her full lips broke into a wide smile. I rolled my eyes. Ella only gave that look to one person and one person only. Brandon's hand snapped back to his side and he scowled along with John as Dallyn came and stood next to Ella. He leaned over and she stood on her toes. John and Brandon glowered as they watched the couple kiss.

Dallyn got comfortable and draped his arm protectively around Ella's shoulders. He kept a smirk on his face as he looked around.

"Was it about last night?" John didn't give up.

"Last night?" Dallyn's voice was alarmed and defensive. His smirk disappeared and his grip tightened on Ella. He was suspicious of John.

"I wasn't talking to you," John muttered.

Dallyn tensed up to say something (probably a rude something) but relaxed as Ella whispered something in his ear.

"I'm sorry babe," he said just loud enough for us to hear and touched her lips to his again, this time more tenderly. He gave her a last squeeze and she ruffled his red hair as he left.

She turned back to the three of us with a cloudy look in her black eyes. "Not right now, I've changed my mind." She said then smiled weakly.

The bell rang and startled me. I blinked, then followed the others into Ms. Cluff's classroom. This day was weird as ever. Ella and John had done something last night, and Ella had come back from the dead this morning… what else could there be?

Ms. Cluff stood to take roll, then walked to the overhead to begin the class.

"sine, cosine, and tangent. Now these are… well, trigonometry kind of things," she said with a peppy smile. The class moaned a little at the word 'trigonometry'.

"Oh, hush," she fussed. "It's very simple. You just use a chart in the back of your book, page 826. You can also do these on your calculator, but I'd rather you did it by hand just for a while. It makes the rest easy…" she trailed on and on and on and on…

I was artistically drawing a rather good picture of myself when I stopped. I listened hard.

Nothing.

The rest of the class had noticed something, too, and were looking out the windows and doors in wonderment of the mysterious distraction.

"Ms. Cluff?" someone asked softly. Ella was staring intently at Ms. Cluff as she asked again, "Ms. Cluff?"

Ms. Cluff herself was just staring, as still as rock. The absence of her constant talking had left a void in the classroom; it had been the distraction that no one could find.

She coughed a little, like she was clearing her throat.

A line of red liquid drooled out of her mouth. She reached up to touch it with her hand. She began to hyperventilate, then stopped sucking air in. she could only cough and hack, vomiting blood out in pools. She turned purple and stopped thrashing.

Half the class was screaming their heads off as she hit the ground. The other half were split between people crying with hysteria or in silence.

I ran out in the hallway to call for help, but stopped. Leli was out in the hallway, pale and breathing hard. I panicked. Had she caught the sickness that Ms. Cluff had had?

"Leli! Leli! Are you all right? Can you breathe? Are you hurt?"

"What?" she gave me a puzzled look. "I'm fine. It's Mr. Thomas. He started coughing, and then…"

"Vomiting blood. And suffocating. Then dying."

"Yeah… how did you know? Who told you?"

"Ms. Cluff… had it too."

We sat silently but looked up as other doors began to slam open. Kids began to stagger out of the classrooms with blank or shocked expressions. Friends quickly located each other and formed their clique groups. Everyone pulled out their cell phones and began calling homes or their parents' work.

"No one answered."

"I didn't get an answer, either."

"His secretary didn't answer it! She's always supposed to be there!"

I glanced at Leli and we headed to our group's spot on the second floor greenhouse. Everyone was already there, talking in confusion.

Ella walked over to us. "No one's getting any answers from their parents. It's happened to the other schools, too. People have friends there, and…"

Leli and I popped out our phones and began calling home. Ella waited patiently for us to put down our phones, disappointed.

"I wonder why nobody's answering?" I asked no one in particular.

"They're dead." Ella said in a cold voice.

"Dead? How do you know that for, like, a hundred percent?"

"The disease. Virus. Whatever you want to call it, kills anyone older or younger than a teenager, as far as I know. We're safe till we turn… well, sixteen." She explained.

"Sixteen?" Leli gasped in disbelief. "Most of us are already fifteen!"

"Sooo… how are we gonna live? Food? Water? Just steal?" I began to think deeper about the situation.

"Look," Ella lowered her voice. "What we need to do is take a few people and get away from the majority of the people. If we don't, all they're going to do is fight for leadership."

Leli snorted. "Are you kidding me? I'd rather stay here with everyone else! And Brandon," she looked dreamily in his direction and went over to suck up to him.

I sighed. "Look, Ella, Leli is right. It seems much safer to stay with the larger group of people. You know these guys, they wouldn't fight for power or anything like that." I grinned hopefully. "Come on, just stay with us. It'll work out."

Ella just quietly walked away.

"What?! That's such a stupid idea! You should listen to me!" The rest of my group was having a heated argument.

"Well, no one put you in charge, either!"

"Dude!" Zane cut in. "Think about it. Hmm." He scratched his head. "What could we do when there's no adults around?" he mocked a light going on above his head. "_Anything!_"

Everyone cheered.

"All right!" he pumped a fist in the air and lead everyone away from the school.

"Aaahh!" Jamie screamed in a high-pitched voice and jumped on my back. I grunted a little in surprise and then pushed her. "This is so cool, huh?" she began as we followed the crowd. "Absolutely no rules!"

I laughed a little and thought about it. I was kinda sad about the whole losing my parents thing, but they weren't much of parents anyway. Always gone for work. Now they weren't here to make me obey their stupid rules.

We were totally and completely… _alone_.


	3. Chapter 3

Ella

No one would listen to me. They were all too excited about the 'no parents' situation. I stopped trying to convince people after MacKenzie, one of my best and closest friends, rejected the idea just like everyone else.

I passed a group of druggies on my way out of the building. They were ecstatic, already huffing and smoking away. I knocked a kid off his skateboard as he coasted by, and used it to break a car window. I threw it back to him and crawled in. I knocked hard on the post that held the steering wheel. The cover finally popped off and I turned the ignition with my thumb and forefinger.

If I wanted to survive with all these other kids around, then I needed to get supplies—fast. Before they raided it for stupid parties.

I drove the car out of the parking lot and looked around. Cars were crashed everywhere on the sides of the roads. The people inside them had lost control as they died. It did leave a clear route for me, though. I sped ten miles down the road to get to the nearest grocery store. I parked right in front of the main doors and walked in.

I gasped and closed my eyes. I had to take a few deep breaths and slowly opened them again. People who had recently been shopping for groceries were now lying on the ground in awkward positions, some facedown in their own blood.

I stepped lightly over them to get to the carts. A worker had his arm wedged in the handle of a cart. I hated to do it, but I loosened his arm and lowered his cold body to the floor. Something clinked as I sat him down. I frowned and turned him over. He was wearing a belt. I unfastened it and used it to tie two carts together. I dragged these behind me, and pushed another one in front. I filled most of the carts' space with canned foods and frozen meat. Lots of that imperishable stuff. I even took some fresh fruit, just for luxury. I could dry it if I needed or wanted to.

It took me another trip to get to the carts filled with water, and load that into the car. Then I sat to think for a moment, and headed to the 'outdoorsman and gunman' store next door. I grabbed guns, fishing stuff, and lots of hard-wear outdoor clothes, then headed to my house to get clothes and shoes.

As I finally packed the car to its capacity, I decided where to go. Not my house. Too close to too many people. Then I got it. My grandparents' house up on the mountains. I revved the engine and got going. There was only one problem. To get there I had to pass Shadow Valley, where everyone was right now.

It was dark by now, and the kids were… being kids. Although a few neighborhoods had already burnt down, they were straying into the safe-but-really-stupid range of activities. Toilet papering houses… egging… partying… alcohol… fireworks. They would all learn fast enough that they needed to prepare better than this.

I slid lower in my seat and locked the doors as I neared Shadow Valley. I didn't want anyone to recognize me. Most of the houses were dark, but the largest and most expensive were lit up and crowded. I drove slow enough to not hit anybody, but fast enough to where no one could catch up. Teenagers would glare at my car in suspicion, but relaxed once I passed by and didn't turn out to be an adult.

A low, thudding vibration shook the air and car around me. Only one person possessed such a speaker. I was a block away from Zane's house, and this street was the only one that had access to my grandparent's house.

I couldn't help but admire how large and stately the house was. I got so absorbed in looking at it that I didn't notice someone stumble into my headlights until I heard a scream from somewhere behind me. I snapped my head forward and pressed on the brakes with both my feet. I was breathing hard as my eyes came into focus.

"John and Brandon?" I whispered to myself as I calmed down.

The pair of them were just standing there in the road, squinting into the headlights. I hid my face behind the steering wheel and honked. They hesitated and then moved out of the way. I sped out of there, away from Zane's house as fast as I could.

Even with the car, it took me two hours to find my grandparents' house, mostly because I kept getting lost.

I pulled into the driveway, put in the code for the garage, then headed inside to begin unpacking.

I put the frozen stuff away first, then the rest. It took even more time to separate all the food into the three different fridges evenly. I sighed and sat in a chair for a rest. I blinked and looked at the Asian-style room around me. It was a little too quiet in here, even without my grandparents around.

My grandparents. My parents. I got a painful knot in my throat and fought back tears. I tried hard to concentrate on what else it could possibly be. I sucked in a gasp.

"Weenie!" I called out in a singsong voice. "Oh Weenie, where are you!"

I waited patiently for the familiar click of Weenie's paws.

_Click-click, click-click-click_.

Then came Weenie's obnoxious bark. It made a sort of odd 'woof-arf-squeal' kind of sound. A large white head poked itself cautiously around the bottom corner of the doorway. A shiny black nose twitched and black lips stretched into a doggish grin, straining over large sharp black teeth. Big, pointed ears perked up, one after another. Pink tongue lolled out of the enormous mouth.

"Weenie!" I almost shouted in surprise. When I had last seen Weenie a few weeks ago, he had been twice the size of a cat. Now he was over quadruple the size, the tips of his ears now reaching above my head. He cleared the length of the room in one leap, landing neatly and painfully on my lap, enclosing my head in his jaws and licked my face.

"Oh, yuck!" Weenie had released a wave of sticky, hot breath as he whined a greeting.

We had first welcomed Weenie into my grandparents' home a year ago. My grandpa had owned a wild animal shelter. Weenie had been illegally raised at someone's house, and finally got him up to the shelter after he bit the man's hand and managed it beyond repair. My grandfather had then brought Weenie back to his house for me to tame. At first, he was aggressive, biting my arm hard enough to rip it off. I stayed calm, and he didn't bite harder or jerk his head. He calmed after a while too, and with a rather disgusting squelching sound, pulled his teeth out of my arm. He whimpered and gently licked my wound with the tip of his tongue.

I laughed a little and cradled my left arm in my lap and held my right hand out in front of Weenie's face. He shoved his face into it and nuzzled up to my side.

"You're just a big Weenie, aren't you?" of course, that's what I named him, being ten at the time. Ever since then he would only listen to me, and followed me everywhere he could.

I choked as he tried to settle on my lap and leaned back on top of my chest.

"Weenie! Get off!" I pushed him off of me and the couch. He rolled over onto his stomach while I puzzled over why Weenie had gotten so big. It couldn't be his food or water. Maybe he'd gotten into steroids? But from where? Nope, steroids weren't the cause.

Whatever it was, it had taken effect fast. In three weeks he had doubled his size. Three weeks. I pulled my eyebrows together in concentration. Three weeks.

The virus had been around for three weeks. So. It kills humans and makes dogs freakishly large. Or all the animals?

Weenie's body tensed underneath me as he lifted his head and perked his ears. They twitched as his head jerked to the left.

"Weenie! No!" I ordered cautiously. He heard prey. And he wanted it. He ignored me and was up on his feet in seconds. He bounded easily through the hallways until he reached the door. He used his paw to push it open, then quickly headed out the door into the backyard. He came to a sudden stop and raised his nose to the sky and sniffed loudly. I screamed a little as he jerked to his right and was off in a full sprint. I had to grab onto his collar to stay on. Trees whipped my face, arms and legs as Weenie raced gracefully through the mountainside. A distant howl could be heard to our left, and he made a sharp turn towards the sound. By now I had learned to grip his sides with my legs in order to stay on better.

Weenie stopped abruptly at a clearing, almost launching me off. At the other side were two large wolves, one black and one white. From between them came another wolf. This one was black as well, but twice the size of even Weenie. I could feel Weenie's hair stand on end as he strutted out to the middle of the clearing. The larger black wolf came up to him, but with its ears slicked back against its skull. It did a sort of crawl for a few steps, then decided it was safe and greeted Weenie with a lick on the face. He grunted affectionately and muzzled the wolf back.

It stopped when its large wet nose touched my arm. It froze and a deep growl built up in its throat. It raised its head and opened its jaws, exposing teeth as big as my hand from fingertip to wrist. It lunged forward so quickly I couldn't see it; at the same time Weenie skipped lightly out of the way and barked sharply. The white wolf sat stunned for a moment, confused. Weenie continued to growl and snap at it as it stared at me blankly. It looked from me to Weenie and then panted and wagged its tail and came to lick my face. At least I think it meant to. Instead it lathered me with drool, soaking my clothes through and plastering my hair straight up in a ridiculous way. I was surprised it hadn't just eaten me up in one bite.

The other two smaller wolves came forward now. They were young, maybe two years at most. They greeted me with slobber too. I could see now that they were a small pack, family. And they included me without hesitation. The two small wolves try to get me to play along in their games, but once in a while Weenie would scare them off and curl protectively around me while I stroked his fur.

After a while I stood to yawn and stretch. I wanted a bed and house to sleep in. I gave Weenie one last pat and began walking in what I assumed was the general direction of home.

Before I knew it Weenie had wormed his way underneath me, knocking me backwards onto his back. He gave me a quick ride home, and even took me up to the stairs and into the master bedroom.

I snuggled down into the large bed as Weenie sprawled on the rest of the mattress. As I drifted to sleep I tried hard to forget about everyone that had died. I didn't do very well.


	4. Chapter 4

John

Bright lights blinded me as I stood in the middle of the street. I blinked a few times, letting my eyes adjust.

It was a car. Someone was inside.

"Hey," Brandon nudged me, "it's a girl."

I looked closer through the windshield. It _was_ a girl… too young to be driving.

HOOONNNKK.

I jumped as she pushed down on the horn.

"That's not just any girl," he nudged me again. "That's Ella!"

"Should we move or talk to her?"

"Probably not talk. Look, see? She's trying to hide." He pointed to the now half-hidden face as Brandon pulled me away from the road.

"Why's she hiding?"

"I heard she tried to convince a few people to come with her somewhere, to 'survive'. Apparently we're not hanging out with the right crowd. She said they'll turn bad eventually."

"And how long do you think that'll take?" I asked.

"Mmm," he stopped for a moment. "Probably longer than we'll live. I mean, look! We got food, drinks, and houses!" he pointed to Zane's house. The lights flared out. People screamed in confusion.

Brandon frowned. The whole world had gone black except for the stars in the sky. I'd never seen the world this dark in my life.

"Ok, well, the electricity doesn't work, no biggie. We can use flashlights." Brandon was talking to himself. He pulled his phone and used the light from the screen to look around. It set a spotlight on things I wouldn't have noticed before. Drunk people passed out on the ground while others robbed their pockets. A few cliques were split up amongst themselves already. Fireworks were now being shot at houses. A few kids had already acquired guns.

I sighed. "Ella's prediction took less than a day." At the time, I thought the situation was as bad as it would get. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Ella

I want fresh meat. That was my first thought as I stretched out on my bed, prodding Weenie with my fingertips. I leaped out of bed, waking myself up with the movement.

I did a ridiculous sort of leap-skip dance to the window in my half-in-dreamland condition and threw up the curtains.

"Agh!" I even blinded myself by letting the sun in. Weenie grunted and curled up tighter. I leaped on top of him and bounced up and down.

"Hunt!" I said Weenie's most favorite word in the entire English language. He was up in an instant. I chuckled and grabbed a gun from underneath my bed.

"Hunt," I said slowly, "deer."

Weenie's ears popped up, his tongue slid out of his mouth, and his tail lost control. As I climbed atop his back, he took off, sniffing the air intently. He abruptly stopped painting and began moving quickly and quietly through the trees. I saw it. The deer. I leaped lightly off Weenie as he lurched forward. I looked down to load the gun and listened to the barbaric sounds of mother nature's food chain in action.

Once the noise calmed down, I strode over. Weenie had the deer pinned on the ground. It was as big as Weenie himself. I cocked the gun. As I shot it in the head to end its misery, I heard a scream.

"That was _my_ deer!" a sandy-haired boy yelled at me. I looked up to see him standing right in front of me. With a gun aimed right between my eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

Drake

Each week since the sickness had reached us had shown more deaths and less food, clean water, and safety. After almost a month into our new life, we had split into groups of five to ten. No one dared to be alone anymore. My group was on the small side, with only six people. John, Brandon, Andi, Leli, Skyles, and me.

"We're low." Skyles said patiently, not even looking inside the boxes to see how much food we had left. He was right, we only had some smoked meat, dried fruit, and a few canned items left. Even our water containers had little left.

"Then we'll have to hunt soon." John grunted as he shifted guns around, choosing the best for the animals that lived on the mountain now. We needed immensely strong guns even to get the gigantic things to notice that they were hit.

I scoffed. "It's _my_ turn this time! You two can stay back and babysit Leli and Andi!"

Skyles held up a hand to silence John before he could retort. "Drake and I will go this time. You two can stay back here with the girls." He sighed regretfully and stroked his blonde hair. "You might even have to steal some things to stay alive while we're gone." He worked his way through our pitiful collection of weapons. A few knives, some pistols, and a couple bear tranquilizer guns.

He packed a few, tucking them into straps and draping them on his back. Then he threw me a few, along with packages of ammo. Then he took about half of the meat left, a few dried fruit, and a canteen of water and put it in a pack.

"Oh, we're leaving right now?" I questioned, following Skyles.

"Yes, of course, It's morning and we need it." He said shortly.

I sighed. Hunting was usually an enjoyable adventure, but with Skyles and his bossy and mean attitude, it was less than pleasant. We spent most of the next two weeks hiking up into the mountains, far away from where the last of the population had receded to. All we had to do was follow the road up to the rich houses that had been built up here before the sickness. The reason we went to the large houses was because the animals had eventually learned to raid them once the people had died.

On the sixteenth day Skyles stopped about four blocks ahead of me. He waved to me, squinting in the bright light of midday. I jogged to catch up with him.

"Beauchanon Drive." He pointed to the small green street sign. "We haven't looked here before, have we?"

"Nah. And I don't think John and Brandon come up this far."

He adjusted his backpack and continued down the road. I followed behind him and cocked my gun. The animals up this far had more than quadrupled their original sizes, and were extremely aggressive. You had to be ready at any moment, or you could be dea—

BANG!

My eardrums were torn to shreds as Skyles fired his gun at something. I immediately began scanning where he had pointed the gun and caught a glimpse of white fur flash through the bushes. He shot again, this time into the trees.

A high-pitched scream made my head throb as we pushed our way past the trees and bushes. On the ground lay a white wolf, as big as two cars put together.

"How did you shoot it?!" I asked Skyles in amazement.

"With my gun." He pulled out a knife and began to cut off the choicest parts of the meat while I kept guard. Wolves tended to take revenge when you shot one of their pack. Skyles had to concentrate hard on the cutting, so he could easily be dead in moments.

I turned my back on the wolf. I hated seeing all that blood, with Skyles just casually digging his arms in the body to get what he wanted. I was listening silently to the slap of meat on the ground and trying to get the damaged ringing out of my ears when I heard a faint rustle. And it wasn't like the wind kind of rustle.

"They're here, Skyles." I warned him as I stood and scanned.

The scream came from behind me. I whipped around and tensed my finger on the trigger.

A girl stood with her hand still on the handle of the knife she had just lodged in Skyles back. Her long black hair fell in front of her face, muddling her features.

A low, raspy growl rattled its way through the thin air. I didn't dare turn my back on the girl. I knew she was coming to kill me next. From the corners of my eyes I could see them. Two more wolves. A black and White pair. I jumped as I heard a chinking sound that jostled the gun. The girl had thrown a second knife at me, missing my hand by less than a hair's width. My hand stung where the blade touched it.

Before I knew what was happening, she had leapt forward, grabbed the knife, and hissed it pst my neck. She had cut a shallow wound. Shocked, I could only attempt to block her blows.

"What—are you—doing—hunting so far from—the city?" she said in a hostile tone. I didn't know what to say. No one had been known to survive up here with the fiercest of animals.

The next moment I couldn't understand what she had yelled, because my ears were ringing with the after damage of gunfire. She jerked back and fell, blood pouring from the wound on her neck.

"I missed," Skyles cackled as he reloaded.

"You're alive!" I gasped and ran over to him to examine the knife sticking out of his back.

"Quit prodding me or I'll miss again!" he demanded, aiming the gun at the girl, who was now getting to her feet. A wolf growled and she immediately turned to focus on us. Skyles quickly cocked the gun as she stood, and aimed right at her heart.

"Don't!" I sprang forward just as Skyles's finger tightened on the trigger.

"Idiot!" he screamed and weakly moved to cock the gun for another shot. The girl had raised her knife like she was about to throw it.

I stepped between them at the exact moment that Skyles fired. The bullet tore through my right shoulder, while the knife pierced my stomach. I heard Skyles curse from behind me. Someone gasped, but it wasn't me. The girl was right in front of me, and I tilted my head to look down to her face.

Her big black eyes caught my attention first. They were wide with shock or fear, or maybe both. Her full lips were parted like she wanted to say something. Her expression made me want to help her, even though she had just stabbed me.

She clicked her tongue twice and a wolf came up to nuzzle her. She walked past me and dragged Skyles, now unconscious, onto the back of the wolf. She clicked her tongue again and the wolf left.

I fell to my knees. I couldn't stand anymore. The girl came up to me and moved her mouth wordlessly. I tried to ask her what she was trying to say, but couldn't do anything. The only thing I could do was wait for the blackness to take over.

Skyles

Drake. The stupid retard. Thanks to him I had missed the girl's heart twice. Now he was probably dead and I was just a snack for the dogs.

As I came to, I realized that the ground was moving underneath me. I slowly opened my eyes. The world had gone white. And soft. And smelled like dog.

No, it hadn't. I was _riding_ one of the dogs. The movement slowly began to fade, and I could smell the city's familiar scent. Gunpowder, rotting meat and fruit, and blood. I tried to shift myself into a sitting position to see if the city was really there, or if I was hallucinating.

"Aaarrgh!" Pain shot through my body, the core of it at my shoulder. I gritted my teeth and held myself up anyway.

Empty, broken buildings stared back at me as the dog ran through the city. No one was around. The only sounds that could be heard were the whispers of the dog's feet as it headed deeper and deeper into civilization. I knew what was happening. Someone had seen the dog coming and warned everyone. Only my group was brave enough to kill dogs, and knew of their Achilles heel. Everyone else went for rabbits and deer. They were terrified of coming face-to-face with the dogs.

This dog was smart. It headed right for my home, where everyone hid when enemies ventured into the city limits.

It gave a sharp bark and crouched down seven yards away from the entrance. I struggled to reach behind my back for my pistol. The wolf growled a warning.

"Relax," I muttered and fired the gun into the sky.

At the far right of the second floor, a small blond head poked out from the window. I could just barely detect a surprised expression on her pale and freckled face.

"Skyles! Wait there!" she called out as she left the window.

"Like I can go anywhere," I grumbled. She burst from the front door, weaseling her way through the groping hands that tried to stop her from running to her death by the dog.

John darted out as a final attempt to keep her in place. He froze as he caught sight of me, and rushed up.

"Skyles! Oh, I was so worried!" I found myself being dragged off the dog less than gently. I couldn't help but smile as Dylan continued to put distance between the dog and us. It flashed a sort of warning look at me, then left.

"Dylan, calm down!" I had to snap at her as she fussed. John fingered the knife in my back.

"Who did it?" he whispered as everyone else traveled cautiously back to their houses. Brandon was listening, too, along with the guys from the Out-City gang. "Was it Drake?"

"An outsider." I said quietly.

"Outsider?" a few people muttered.

"But how? No outsiders have been found after two months in."

I shrugged as someone got to work tugging the knife out of my back. Ungh. Shrugging was a bad choice.

"So?" John cringed as he watched my back be stitched up. "Did you see his hideout or anything? Why he's been able to survive so long? Maybe he had more people…"

"She," I corrected.

"Huh?" his dark eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"The outsider is a _she_." I elaborated.

John stopped and blinked. A hopeful look glittered faintly in his eyes. I knew who he thought he was. The only girl who hadn't stayed with the group when the sickness had hit, and the only one who might have outsmarted Mother Nature and stayed alive this long. I decided to shut down his hopes before he did anything stupid.

I shook my head. That's all it took to shoot the hopeful look down and replace it with a hurt despair.

"No matter if it's a he or a she, they need to be brought down." One of the Out-City gang members argued. Everyone agreed. "I mean, look at the threat that they pose! Even the _animals_ listen to them! And since most of us don't know how to kill any of the animals," he glared at my gang, "we need to send a group out there and take the bear tranquilizers with us." He looked over at his leader to see what he thought of the plan.

The out-City leader exhaled and ruffled his red hair. "I guess I can spare three or four guys right now. Besides, don't you need a, uh, 'rescue team' for Drake?" he offered since Drake got on extremely with the Out-City gang and their leader.

I nodded and didn't tell him that I had shot Drake, and he had also been stabbed by the girl.

"All right!" he spoke louder and ruffled his hair again. He began ordering his people on how they were to prepare for the trip. After he had sent everyone on their way and given them a task, he crouched down facing me.

He looked troubled. He moved to stand, but then crouched again. His mouth opened a few times.

"Spit it out, VanDyke!" I commanded, sick of his antsy movements.

"The outsider," he began, "what did she look like?"

I sat still as the last of my stitches were knotted up.

"It's not her."

"Are you sure? Did you get a good look at her face?" his blue eyes opened wide as he asked the questions quickly and quietly in desperation.

"It's not her."

"But… but six months! I mean, think about how different she could look! Especially after being in the wild like that…. Alone…" he cringed. He was much more persistent than John had been.

"Even considering those six months… well, maybe," I pretended to have second thoughts about her identity. His face brightened. I hadn't seen an expression that happy in a long time. "Nope. Not her."

VanDyke collapsed, his face falling into his hands.

I chuckled lightly at how pathetic he was, then walked slowly into my familiar home.

"Skyles!"

I let out an exasperated moan. "What?!"

"Please, let us go with the Out-City gang!" Brandon was down on his knees.

"I don't know why you three won't give up!" I had to stop myself from yelling at him. "It's not her!" I hissed.

Brandon fell backwards onto his back and sighed. "Well, if she _was_ here, she'd fix everything."


End file.
